Please introduce yourself briefly

I am André Kaufmann, 52 years old, married, and have a son. I have been with Geutebrück for a very long time, to be precise, since 1997. I've had a variety of roles here at the company, but my current role is Principal Architect. My tasks here are varied, in a nutshell I'm currently involved in everything to do with our technology and development. This ranges from advising teams and individual colleagues, to evaluating, collaborating on and implementing strategic goals, to conducting the technical interview part of job interviews. I also monitor software trends and technologies and introduce them to us if they help us to achieve our strategic goals. Another primary task of mine as a software architect is that I don't necessarily sit in an ivory tower drawing beautiful diagrams, as one might imagine with a house-building architect. On the contrary, I work closely with the teams. When something needs to be implemented, I support the teams. This means that if I have "committed something," I don't just say, "Hey, I've drawn something nice, see how you can implement it," but I also assist in the implementation.

How was your career at Geutebrück?

I started here as a software developer, which lasted for about 3-4 years. After that, I transitioned into the leadership domain and assumed a team lead role. Until the development manager at the time left us, I temporarily took over as development manager. I enjoyed that so much that I carried on doing it for a while.

What specific skills are required in your job?

In general, one needs a broad knowledge across various technical areas, a penchant for and enjoyment of software architecture – both at a macro and micro level. This ranges from structuring software projects by providing an architectural model to designing larger architectures. It's also crucial to involve colleagues in this process, as they are the specialists! However, I quickly realized that my interest was more inclined towards technical leadership rather than disciplinary management. Therefore, I refocused on the technical aspect and specialized in software architecture.

What special projects have you been involved in?

During my time at Geutebrück, there were numerous projects, with one particularly standing out - the first project I joined, the development of what I believe was the world's first digital video recorder. It was unique that I could directly contribute to this project, and it turned out to be a significant success, laying the foundation for our present-day products. Even today, we still have a unique selling point in terms of technical quality and performance, despite the huge competition. That's why we are proud of it. Since then, I have also been involved in many other software and hardware products in various roles.

What motivates you to come to work?

The journey is usually very short in times of Corona, especially in home office – from the living room to the office. In home office, motivation is not as strong as in the office. When working from home, the motivation is not as strong as in the company, you are in your own office every day, only have virtual contact with colleagues and this exchange with colleagues suffers a bit - at least I think so. But I also have such a variety of topics, always new challenges and then at least virtual contact with colleagues, that's the motivational engine that doesn't stop at the virus.

How have you developed during your time at Geutebrück?

I must say, I have learned a lot. The academic studies did not prepare one 100% for professional life. I not only learned a lot in the technical field, but also in working with colleagues. This broadened my horizons a lot and also shaped my opinions. And as they say, one grows with their challenges and I also learned that there are tasks where you think from the outset that they are unsolvable, that we can't do them or that you can't do them yourself. But if you approach them the right way and, above all, always try to bite through them, you find out that they are not unsolvable after all. Of course, not everything always goes well or as planned, but the most important thing is to quickly recognize when things are not going right, draw the right conclusions from these mistakes, learn from them, and not repeat them.

What do you enjoy about your job?

I enjoy it mainly because there are always new challenges. Especially in the software field, it feels like everything is new every 6 months, and you have to constantly stay on your toes to keep up – in short, it never gets boring. But I think that's very good and having a wide range of knowledge is always challenging and makes the work so interesting. I'm actually interested in a lot of topics and the software architect position fits like a glove. The collaboration with colleagues, the exchange in projects, working with other developers, and helping out – for me, that is the optimal combination. Otherwise, I wouldn't have stayed at Geutebrück for so long.

What goals do you still have?

Together with the teams, I aim to further develop our software in the context of agile development, allowing us to tap into new markets, be it in the realm of cloud services or meeting the diverse requirements prevalent in today's customer environment.

How would your colleagues describe you?

They would describe me as a friendly colleague who is approachable for any questions. Someone who can always provide well-founded answers in the technical field and is very helpful. I believe my colleagues would also characterize me as someone who sees the glass as always half full and never half empty, meaning I am always optimistic.

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